


Green Electricity

by SailorChibi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avenger Loki (Marvel), Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Canon Divergence - Avengers (2012), Canon Divergence - Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Civil War Team Iron Man, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki (Marvel) was brainwashed, M/M, Mentions of brainwashing, Miscommunication, Multi, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America Friendly, Not Natasha Romanov Friendly, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers is too stubborn for his own good, Threesome - M/M/M, Time Skips, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, but they figure their shit out, characters in the MCU need to learn to use their words, let's be honest it never left, what's that oh look my salt is back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27548266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: Loki was brainwashed by Thanos during the Battle of New York, but came out of in time to save Iron Man from falling.Bucky Barnes was recaptured by Hydra after the events of CA:TWS, and then sent after Tony Stark.These two events change everything.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Loki, James "Bucky" Barnes/Loki/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 172
Kudos: 1814





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Another winterfrostiron AU cause I don't know what it is, but I just love these boys together.

Tony was falling.

The next thing he knew, he wasn’t.

His vision filled with the crackle of green electricity, and he felt more than heard his heart start. The sharpness of it all made his chest seize and he instinctively gasped in a breath, which came out a ragged cough. But he was breathing at least, which was a definite bonus. He opened his eyes, realizing that the faceplate of his suit had gone missing, and found himself staring up at his savior.

“Are all humans this crazy?” Loki inquired. “Or are you a special breed?”

“What?” Tony said dazedly. It belatedly occurred to him that they were still moving, and he looked around in confusion as they stopped.

Loki was holding the Iron Man armor, and therefore Tony himself, bridal style in his arms. They were standing on one of the streets in New York that had definitely seen better days. Tony looked up at the sky instinctively but couldn’t see anything aside from endless blue and fluffy white clouds. The portal was gone now like it had never existed. The only evidence that the battle had happened was the carnage around them, the dead alien bodies laying around, and the god holding Tony like a princess.

“Did you… save me?” Tony asked, blinking slowly as his brain struggled to put two and two together. It sounded ludicrous, but it was the only explanation he could think of. He’d been falling, then there was Loki, and now he wasn’t falling. 

“Yes, I did,” said Loki. 

“Uh… why?” Tony said slowly. He wasn’t sure if he should be trying to repulsor Loki in the face or what. The seemingly calm way that Loki was acting right now was so at odds with how Loki had been before. There were no threats, no vows to carve out Tony’s heart, no attempts at brainwashing, no throwing Tony through a window with no care for how far away the ground was.

Why the hell would Loki _save him_ from falling when like two hours ago, he’d tried to kill Tony the same way?

“Because your Hulk saved me,” Loki said, and Tony looked up at his face. He remembered thinking before that it was pretty unfair that someone so psychotic could be so pretty. Loki’s blue eyes had been almost the same color as the arc reactor.

Blue eyes.

No, green eyes.

“Oh fuck,” Tony said, realization settling in. “You were brainwashed, weren’t you?”

Loki gave him a small smile. “You’re smarter than you look,” he said, and somehow managed to make that sound like a compliment.

He set Tony down on the ground and honestly, if it weren’t for the armor, Tony probably would’ve fallen over. His whole body was one solid ache from toe to head, though the biggest concentration of pain was definitely centered around his chest. He put a hand to the arc reactor and wondered if the green electricity he remembered had come from Loki. Probably. If so, Loki had actually saved Tony’s life twice over.

“Your Hulk hit me in the head multiple times. That was enough to free me,” Loki continued. He stood there with his hands loose at his sides. With his helmet gone, it was hard to believe that he’d been waging war against Earth not thirty minutes ago.

“Hulk is good at smashing,” Tony said. “Thor didn’t say anything about you being brainwashed.”

Loki sighed. “Thor and I parted on unusual terms,” he said stiffly. “He probably didn’t realize.”

“Unusual terms, huh?” Tony repeated. “That code for ‘my brother is a dick’?”

That startled another smile out of Loki. He really did have a nice smile, Tony thought. Kind of reserved, a little bit shy, but genuine. If he had been brainwashed, then he was handling it really well – unless he wasn’t, and he was just pretending that he was fine. That’s what Tony would have done if their situations were reversed.

He looked around at the street again and tried to think this through. Okay, so Loki was claiming that he’d been brainwashed. Considering the scepter seemed to have the power to brainwash anyone touched by it, and Loki had been carrying it around, that made sense. But that also posed the more important question of just _who_ had been the person to brainwash Loki. That meant there was something deeper at play. Something powerful enough to get one over on a god.

Tony had the sinking feeling that he really did not want to know who that someone was.

“Stark! Stark, where are you?”

The sound of Romanov’s voice made Tony jump. The armor tilted precariously. Loki’s arm shot out and grasped Tony’s arm, gently steadying the armor again until Tony wasn’t at risk of falling over. Tony looked at him in surprise and had just opened his mouth to say thank you when suddenly the street was flooded with cops, SHIELD agents, and a couple Avengers.

“Take your hands off of Iron Man and get down on your knees! Hands behind your head!” a SHIELD agent barked.

“Wait!” Tony shouted, moving in front of Loki. “He was brainwashed. Loki is not the enemy here.”

That announcement got him looks of disbelief from pretty much everyone there. Romanov was the only one who moved; she had a streak of blood down her right cheek and her eyes were a little wild. Tony tensed slightly. He honestly wouldn’t have put it past her to shoot him right now to get to Loki, and there were enough cracks in the armor that he couldn’t be sure the bullet wouldn’t get through.

“Stark, have you lost your mind? You’re protecting the enemy,” Romanov hissed. 

“If you’d listen to me, I’m trying to tell you that I’m _not_. Loki was brainwashed just like Barton,” Tony said impatiently. As he’d hoped, she looked a little more focused at the mention of Barton’s name.

“How do you know that he’s telling the truth?” she demanded, looking at Loki suspiciously. “He could be lying now that he’s caught.”

Tony wasn’t sure how to explain the evidence to her given that it seemed pretty circumstantial. So he decided to go with, “Why don’t we find Thor, then? He should be able to tell us the truth.”

Romanov didn’t look convinced but nodded. “Alright, fine. But one false move –”

“You’ll put a new hole in him, we know,” Tony said, suddenly weary. It had been a very long day and it now seemed like it was just going to get longer.

It took them a little while to track Thor down. Tony wasn’t sure what happened during the reunion between the two brothers, as they had their conversation on top of a roof and well out of earshot of anyone on the ground, but Thor emerged from the talk completely convinced that Loki had been a victim just like Barton and Selvig. No one seemed to be pleased by that.

“Are you sure we can’t shoot him? He brainwashed me, Nat,” Barton whispered to Romanov.

“And he was brainwashed first, Barton. Why don’t you shoot the guy who brainwashed Loki and started all this?” Tony said hotly, twisting around to glare at Barton. He’d shed the Iron Man armor by that point, and barely felt capable of standing. But he’d be damned if he’d let them pin the blame on an innocent man.

He’d already lived through too many guilty people getting to walk free.

Barton glowered back at him. “Gladly.”

“Alright you two. Barton, come on. Coulson’s waiting for us,” Romanov interrupted, giving Barton a gentle nudge in the shoulder. Tony briefly contemplated suggesting that the team go out for shawarma but decided against it at the last minute. Besides, Thor was waving at him.

“What’s up?” Tony said when he was close enough to speak without yelling. Thor beamed at him and clapped Tony on the shoulder with such force that Tony’s legs gave out.

For the third time – or was it the fourth time? Tony was losing count – Loki stuck out an arm and caught Tony before he could hit the ground. His hand was an unyielding, steadying force beneath Tony’s arm as Loki turned a cool look of chastisement on Thor.

“You need to be more careful, Thor. Humans are fragile.”

“Oh, right,” Thor said, looking embarrassed. “My apologies, Stark.”

“No big deal. All good,” Tony said, not sure how he felt about being labeled ‘fragile’. Yet he couldn’t really argue against it either, considering that humans _were_ fragile when compared against Asgardians. Still, he pulled away from Loki as soon as he felt steady enough.

“I was wondering if we might ask you a favor,” said Thor.

“A favor?” Tony repeated warily.

“My brother cannot return to Asgard. Our father would not welcome him,” Thor said. 

Tony could suddenly see where this was going. “So, you want him to stay here. On Earth.”

Thor nodded. “If at all possible, I believe this would be the best place. Loki has already agreed to held out around your city.”

“You mean, help out with the clean-up and everything?” Tony said, looking to Loki. 

It was Loki’s turn to nod. “If you believe my help would be accepted.”

“Well, they probably wouldn’t say no,” Tony said thoughtfully. That would actually go a long way towards helping people to trust Loki. It was a pretty good PR move, and exactly what Tony would have recommended had his opinion been asked.

“But he would need somewhere to stay,” Thor said, and now he was looking hopefully at Tony.

“Thor!” Loki hissed, looking embarrassed. Clearly, this part of the conversation had not been communicated beforehand.

Tony looked between the two of them. Even considering the fact that the tower had been partially destroyed, he did have the most room out of everyone. He didn’t think Loki would fare very well if he had to stay in the SHIELD barracks: a lot of those agents were probably still holding a serious grudge and didn’t believe in Loki’s innocence. Might not ever believe in Loki’s innocence, truthfully.

“Sure,” he said slowly. “I still have a few empty guest rooms. You’re welcome to stay in one if you like.”

“Really?” Loki said, unable to hide his surprise.

“Really,” Tony said. “Least I can do considering the fact that you saved my life. No way I would have survived a fall like that, even in the armor.” 

What he didn’t say, but which he couldn’t help thinking, was that he’d been intending to offer those guest rooms to the Avengers. But Tony had already decided against doing that. Cap was still watching him with something that was at best uncertainty and at worst outright suspicion, and Barton and Romanov were so wrapped up in each other they didn’t seem to be aware of anything else. Bruce had already taken off; Tony had no idea where he’d gone or if Bruce would ever show face again.

So why not offer Loki a room? It wasn’t like anyone else would be around.

“Thank you,” Loki said, a curious expression on his face that Tony couldn’t parse. 

“Thor, will you need a room too?” Tony asked.

“Perhaps for one night,” said Thor. “I have already spoken to Director Fury and let him know that the Tesseract is safest on Asgard. He was very reluctant, but I believe he will eventually understand my reasoning. So, within a day or two, I hope to be on my way back to Asgard.”

“Okay, well, you’re welcome to crash at mine for as long as you need,” Tony said with a shrug. Then he winced, putting a hand to his chest. That hurt.

“Are you well?” Thor asked, watching him with obvious concern.

Tony waved him off. “I’m fine. Just a few bumps and bruises. That’s what happens when you’re a squishy human inside of the armor,” he said. He was pretty sure he had come through the battle with the most ‘bumps and bruises’ out of everyone. Considering that they hadn’t had armor to wear, Barton and Romanov had looked pretty unharmed. Tony wasn’t sure what that said about the battle in general.

He looked around at the general state of things. SHIELD seemed to have it well in hand; everywhere Tony looked, there were agents collaborating with the NYPD and EMTs. It didn’t really seem like there was much need for any of the Avengers right now when it came to cleaning things up. Right now, everything was focused on recovery. Tony, much as he hated to admit it, needed to rest first, and he didn’t think Loki’s help would be accepted just yet, and Thor was clearly reluctant to leave his brother alone.

So he turned back to the brothers and said, “Let’s head to the tower, then.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Something isn’t right.”

Tony looked up, blinking. He’d been staring at his tablet for so long that it took his eyes a moment to adjust to the real world. Loki was pacing back and forth, arms linked behind his back. The position pulled the fabric of his shirt against his chest, showing off his muscles. Tony couldn’t help taking a few seconds to admire that sight, committing to memory, before he made himself stop in case Loki noticed.

“What do you mean, something isn’t right?” Tony asked, tilting his head slightly in puzzlement. 

“I don’t know,” Loki said quietly, but with deepening frustration. This had clearly been bothering him for a while now, and whatever was making him feel this way had finally bubbled over into speech.

“You don’t know,” Tony repeated, unsettled in spite of himself. Over the past several months, he had come to trust in Loki’s ‘bad feelings’. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about magic as a whole – it often seemed more troublesome than it was worth – but this was something he thought he couldn’t afford to ignore.

He stood up and moved closer to the window, hugging his tablet to his chest. The sight below him was an unfamiliar one. Rather than the city of New York, all lit up in gleaming lights, it was the ocean. Tony stared down at the crashing waves. They rushed against the shore with incredible force. In the dark, they appeared to be bottomless. A cold chill ran down his spine as he contemplated falling into those depths: they looked a bit too like endless space tonight for comfort.

“Should we go back to New York?” he asked, turning to Loki.

“You wanted to come back to clean your things up here,” said Loki, which wasn’t an answer.

“I know I did, but not at the expense of either of our lives,” Tony replied. The whole ordeal over almost dying from palladium poisoning and seeing Loki’s, Pepper’s, and Rhodey’s reactions to it had taught him a tiny bit about the value of his own life. 

Loki sighed and was quiet for several seconds. Tony took the chance to look at him more closely, noticing the new lines of stress on Loki’s face. A little twinge of guilt took hold in his chest. That was definitely his fault. He hadn’t thought about how much his near-death experience would affect Loki. Couldn’t have imagined that Loki would be upset about as he was.

Tony wasn’t sure what that meant, but he did like the idea that Loki had been so worried.

“No,” Loki said at last, turning his head to meet Tony’s eyes and giving him a weary smile. “We’re supposed to be here, and here is where we’ll stay. For now, anyway.”

“For now,” Tony echoed. The tower in New York was almost finished, and Tony was still debating on whether he wanted to stay in Malibu or move back to New York. Thor, when he was on Earth, preferred New York because of the proximity to Jane and her team. Loki didn’t profess to have a preference one way or the other.

Malibu had been home for a long time, but Tony wasn’t sure that was the case now. He had almost died here. He’d almost lost Loki here, both metaphorically and literally. New York might be a good fresh start. Aside from that, he knew how much Loki loved the bustle of the city. It was easier for Loki to get lost amongst the hustle and bustle. But in Malibu, Loki didn’t need to always go out wearing a disguise. 

It was complicated.

“Do you want to watch a movie or something?” Tony asked.

“You don’t have any more work to do?”

“Oh, I have tons of work to do. I’m just tired,” Tony said, setting his tablet down. He rubbed at his eyes, which suddenly felt hot and dry. 

“ _You’re_ admitting that you’re tired? You’re not dying again, right?” Loki said. The words came out too sharply to be a teasing remark, and Tony looked up at him. 

“No, Lokes. I’m fine. But even I can only take so much of contracts,” he said patiently. “Pepper’s been sending them to me left, right, and center. Apparently, people are so interested in the armor and what it can do that everyone wants to work with us.”

Loki relaxed. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Yes… and no. It’s good that Stark Industries is getting a lot of attention. I’m never going to complain about that. But… a lot of them want me to make weapons. I promised myself that I was through with that.” Tony wrapped his arms around himself. 

He’d always told himself that the armor was different because he was using it with the goal of _protecting_ people. But that wasn’t how a ton of potential clients were seeing it. They saw it as a fantastic weapon that had great potential for war, and that was the last thing that Tony wanted. After finding out everything that Stane had been doing behind his back, he was never going to let his creations be used for that again.

“Then you should follow through with that,” said Loki.

“It’s not that easy,” Tony mumbled.

“It’s as easy as you let it be. I’m sure that Ms. Potts would support your decision, right?” Loki didn’t wait for Tony to answer that, adding, “Stark Industries lives and dies with you. You need to take it in the direction that you’re most comfortable with. The company won’t do well when its creator isn’t motivated.”

This was one of the things that Tony loved most about Loki. That no bullshit, straightforward way of looking at the world was incredible. Sometimes Tony could talk himself into a tailspin, and just when he had no way of knowing what was up and what was down, there was Loki with exactly the right words to say to make the path forward clear. It was amazing.

“You’re right, of course,” Tony said with a small smile.

Loki smirked at him. “Of course I am,” he drawled, and Tony rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at him.

They both went to bed not long after – Loki could go much longer without sleep than Tony could, of course, but his magic got a little harder to control if he went for too long without sleep. Tony was pretty sure that Loki just liked sleeping, though both of them suffered from nightmares. So unfortunately, sleep wasn’t always quick to come to either of them.

Tonight, that turned out to be a good thing.

Tony got ready for bed like he usually did and climbed beneath the covers, but, even though he switched off his phone, he found that he couldn’t fall asleep. In spite of Loki’s reassuring words, and how much sense they made, he couldn’t stop dwelling on those contracts. By the time 2am rolled around, he was staring at the ceiling and thinking about possible improvements to the Iron Man armor when he heard something.

He sat up, looking at his door. By this point, he was almost expecting Loki to come in. They didn’t often share a bed, but every once in a while, one of them would find their way into the other’s bed. It was always platonic – much to Tony’s private regret – but having another body nearby that you trusted could work wonders when it came to things like nightmares.

But as the moments ticked by and no tall, lean figure appeared in his doorway, Tony’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“JARVIS?” he whispered.

There was no response.

Now fully alarmed, Tony pushed the covers back and put his feet down on the cool floor. His eyes were glued to the play of shadows seeping beneath the door. Nothing looked off that he could remember, but, now that he was paying attention, he realized that the house was unnaturally quiet. The almost imperceptible hum of JARVIS’s servers was missing.

He stood and took a step towards the door, reaching towards his nightstand. The suit could be with him in a matter of seconds – 

The window shattered behind him. Shocked, Tony whirled around. He had exactly enough time to see a flash of metal before there was a hand around his throat and he was slammed into the bedroom wall with unexpected force. His head hit the wall and the world spun around him briefly; things refused to come back into focus and he belatedly realized it was because he couldn’t breathe.

Green electricity sparkled into being, flared painfully bright against Tony’s watering eyes. The magic looped around the throat of whoever was trying to strangle Tony and yanked. Tony lurched forward as the man – and it was a man, he could see now – was unceremoniously jerked off his feet and tossed backwards. As his hand finally left Tony’s skin, Tony drew in a great, gasping breath and slid to his knees.

The door swung open moments later and Loki blew in, green magic dampening the edges of the air around him. His eyes were glowing bright and he looked more pissed off than Tony could ever remember seeing him, and that included the time that he thought Tony was dead.

“What the hell is going on?” Loki snarled. “Tony? Are you okay?”

Tony put a hand to his burning throat, assessing. It hurt like a bitch to swallow, but he was able to take in deep breaths of air so at least he wasn’t dying. He gave Loki a thumbs up, but, oddly enough, Loki did not look reassured by that. If anything, he just looked more upset than before. He swung back around to face the intruder, and now his hands were glowing too.

“You _dare_ -” Loki began.

The intruder got up, much to Tony’s surprise – the force of that hit would’ve knocked anyone but Steve, Thor, or Loki out, which gave Tony an inkling that maybe this intruder wasn’t a normal human. Whoever it was, he was shorter than Loki but taller than Tony, and broader in the shoulders than either of them. His face was covered by a mistake, but his eyes –

His eyes looked dead. A chill ran down Tony’s spine. He didn’t think he’d ever seen someone have such a total lack of expression in their eyes. 

Loki lifted his hands, no doubt with intentions of using his magic to throw the guy back out the window. Tony didn’t know why, but he managed to get to his feet and grab Loki’s arm. Tendrils of green electricity danced over his fingers, but it didn’t hurt. Loki’s magic never hurt him, no matter how upset Loki was. It was something that Tony had never thought to be grateful for until now.

“Don’t,” Tony rasped. 

“Tony?” Loki said, not taking his eyes off of the intruder. 

“Knock him out. Don’t hurt him,” Tony said. He didn’t know why he was asking this; it wasn’t like this was the first time he had ever been targeted by an assassin. But something about this situation just didn’t feel right. Loki could easily kill or incapacitate the guy, who probably had no idea a literal god was staring him down, but for some reason Tony couldn’t explain, he didn’t want that.

A small frown crossed Loki’s face. The intruder seemed to come to a decision and pulled a sizeable knife from a sheath on his right leg. Loki sighed at the sight of the knife, rolled his eyes, and flicked his fingers as though he were shooing away a fly. Emerald magic flickered through the air like darts, impacting the intruder on his forehead. He collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.

Tony relaxed once the guy was out, knowing from experience that he wouldn’t awaken until Loki wanted him to, but Loki remained tense.

He said, “There are other people out there.”

Tony glanced out the window but saw nothing. It was just dark. None of the exterior lights were on. He looked at the guy on the floor again. He had no idea who was out there, but they probably wanted to kill him. He might have saved this guy from Loki’s wrath, but he had no such desire to save the ones who’d remained outside.

“Can you take care of them?” he asked, wincing. It was getting harder to talk. It hurt.

“Of course,” Loki said, eyes literally flashing. He vanished. Tony sat down on his bed, one hand gingerly touching his throat, and stared at the unconscious killer on his bedroom floor. Just what had they got themselves into?


	3. Chapter 3

“Stop staring at me.”

“I’m not staring at you.”

Tony sighed and rubbed his face. “James, seriously. Stop staring at me.”

“I’m not staring at you,” James repeated. Tony glared in his general direction, but, since James was safely hidden behind the newspaper, he didn’t see Tony’s look. That was probably a good thing. Loki and James had told Tony fairly often that his glare made him look about as effective as a wet kitten. It wasn’t really good for Tony’s pride to hear that too often.

“You so are,” Tony muttered into his breakfast, but he gave up on protesting. He lowered his head, pretending to be preoccupied with the coffee, and heard the faintest rustle of the newspaper. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the newspaper shift a little bit more until James could watch him. This time, Tony managed to hold in the sigh – but it was a very close call.

Sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he’d never found out that James was _the_ Winter Soldier. But then, it wasn’t like that information would have stayed a secret forever. There were worse ways to find out than in the privacy of his own workshop, with JARVIS there to talk Tony down and Loki there to offer comforting hugs and James there to blurt out frantic apologies.

Still, the information had thrown off their rhythm. It had been close to six months since the Winter Soldier had broken into the mansion in Malibu. At first, they’d thought that James was just a random Hydra assassin, albeit an odd one considering his total lack of memory. He knew all the basics of human function, but that was it. He didn’t remember who he was, where he came from, how he’d come to be with Hydra… nothing.

So Tony, in his quest to help, had delved deep into the Hydra files that Rogers and Romanov had dumped onto the internet. It had taken him and JARVIS a while to comb through everything just because of the sheer amount of data, but they’d eventually found what they were looking for. First came the realization about the Winter Solider, then came the realization about _who_ the Winter Soldier was, and then came the realization about the fate of Tony’s parents.

He was… okay with it. Surprisingly. Tony had taken a couple of days to be angry at both himself and his parents, but anger towards James had never really entered the mix. Now his anger was firmly settled where it belonged: on Hydra. But James seemed to be having a hard time believing that. He had taken to watching Tony the way a kicked puppy watched the person who had kicked him, and it was getting on Tony’s nerves.

“Sir, Captain Rogers is requesting entrance to the tower,” JARVIS announced.

“What the hell does he want?” Loki snarled, materializing so quickly that Tony jumped in surprise. James, on the other hand, merely calmly reached out and picked up his mug of tea. He wasn’t a big fan of coffee.

“I don’t know,” Tony said, putting a hand over the arc reactor. He wasn’t sure what Loki had against the rest of the Avengers. But ever since the three of them had moved back to New York, Loki had taken to muttering increasingly dark invectives every time Rogers, Romanov, or Barton were mentioned.

Which, Tony supposed, was sort of fair, considering that Rogers, Romanov, and Barton had been very clear about their dislike of Loki. The three of them seemed to share some doubts about whether or not Loki had really been brainwashed. Tony didn’t know exactly what those doubts entailed, mostly because hearing about them in detail would’ve encouraged him to break his fist on Cap’s perfect face.

“Can I get rid of them?” Loki asked with the sort of smile that made Tony’s pants tight. It was very tempting to say yes. The only thing hotter than Loki going on a rampage was when Loki was going on a rampage on Tony’s behalf.

“No,” Tony said, shaking his head. “I still have to work with these people. You guys should make yourselves scarce, though.” He looked at James as he spoke. Since finding out who he used to be, James had been very clear that he had no interest in meeting up with Rogers. Tony couldn’t blame him.

“Come on, Loki. Let’s go upstairs. You can play around in my head some more,” James said, rising to his feet.

Loki looked at him with exasperation. “I already told you. Your memories are locked up so tightly that it would destroy your mind to bring them forward,” he said, but he allowed James to drag him out of the room. Tony watched them go, unconsciously licking his lips.

He’d been wrong. The only thing hotter than Loki on a rampage was James and Loki being all sweet with each other. It made Tony’s heart do weird things that had nothing to do with the arc reactor and everything to do with the fact that he was living with two extremely sexy men. For a moment, he let himself fantasize about James dragging Loki upstairs for an entirely _different_ reason.

“Sir,” JARVIS said. Tony jumped at the sound of his A.I.’s disapproving voice and wrenched his mind away from his increasingly filthy thoughts. He could daydream all he wanted later. It was best to deal with Rogers right now, before Rogers started to think Tony was implicitly inviting him upstairs.

“Go ahead, J. I’ll meet him on the eighteenth floor,” Tony said. He got up and looked down at himself skeptically. He wasn’t wearing a suit today, which his usual preference for when he was dealing with the Avengers or SHIELD, but the jeans and muscle shirt he was wearing didn’t look too dirty. The shirt did reveal the reactor though, and that made Tony uncomfortable.

So, on the way to the elevator, he ducked into the front closet and came up with a sweater that was either James’s or Loki’s. Based off the color – an emerald green that was a perfect match to Loki’s eyes – he was guessing that it was Loki’s, and that made him feel a little warmer as he headed into the elevator. JARVIS took him down to the right floor, where Tony one last deep breath before walking out.

“Tony! There you are. JARVIS wouldn’t let me up into the tower.” Steve Rogers stood up, smiling broadly. He was wearing jeans and a tight t-shirt that may or may not have been painted on, with a jacket on top. He had a new haircut, Tony noticed. It made him look older, more sophisticated. Less like the boyish supersoldier who had stumbled into a new century.

“The upper floors are private,” Tony said. “Just for me, family, and close friends.” He tucked his hands in his pockets and smiled to take the sting out of his words. 

Honestly, it was the truth. He had not considered Rogers, Romanov, or Barton to be friends since just after the Battle of New York. After the Avengers had all gone their separate ways, Tony had figured they’d show back up in New York eventually. He hadn’t been too fussed about them since Loki seemed to be more important. But that didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt to realize that the three of them had been in close contact following the battle. Seemed like Tony didn’t make the cut, so he was just returning the favor.

“Ah, I see,” Rogers said easily. “You’ll have to program JARVIS to let me up there, then.”

“Uh huh, I’ll get right on that,” Tony said sarcastically. Clearly Rogers had totally missed the point of Tony’s comment, which sounded about right for Rogers. He could just imagine Loki’s reaction if Rogers ever strolled out of the elevator on their private floor.

“Great. So… how have things been? I’ve seen a lot about Stark Industries in the news lately,” Rogers said.

“We have some new stuff going on,” Tony said, folding his arms over his chest. He wanted to ask where Rogers was going with this visit, but he was also curious to see how Rogers led up to whatever he wanted.

“I saw that. Your company is always coming up with new innovations. I admire that about you,” Rogers said, and he spoke with such earnestness that, for a moment, Tony found himself softening. As annoyingly secretive as Rogers could be sometimes, he also wasn’t as a bad guy. 

For all of five seconds, Tony seriously considered inviting Rogers, if not upstairs, to another floor where they could sit and actually talk for once. There were a lot of things that Tony wouldn’t be able to share without speaking to Loki and James first, but there were some things that Tony could talk about. Like his latest innovations with the suit, and all the talk that was brewing about those accords, and the mock-ups Tony had once made for new uniforms for the team –

And then Rogers had to open his big mouth and ruin any sense of friendship Tony was feeling.

“You’re just like your father, you know.”

“What?” Tony said, tensing up. 

“You’re just like Howard! So imaginative,” Rogers said, and he smiled a big, stupid smile like that was supposed to be a compliment.

He really was an oblivious idiot, wasn’t he?

If he paid even an ounce of attention to anything, he would’ve known just how much Tony _hated_ being compared to his father. Anyone who spent more than half an hour with Tony would know that. Even the media didn’t really bring Howard Stark up unless they were trying to get a rise out of Tony, and those who did usually ended up regretting it.

But that was Rogers for you.

He only paid attention to what _he_ thought was important, and Tony was pretty sure that he had never and would never make that list.

Tony stared at him with a stony expression and, in the flattest voice he could manage, said, “Right.”

Because the truth was that Tony had far surpassed Howard in terms of inventions. Howard had limited himself by thinking only in terms of weapons. Stark Industries was now the leader in areas that Howard wouldn’t even have _dreamed_ of. Without Howard or Stane to drag the company down, they were doing better than ever. Not all of that could be attributed purely to Tony – Pepper was responsible for a huge part of that, amazing CEO that she was – but a good chunk of it was.

He didn’t bother explaining that to Rogers, though. He knew that anything he said would automatically be taken as a criticism of Howard regardless of whether Tony intended it that way or not. And Rogers was weirdly defensive of people like Howard and Peggy Carter. They could do no wrong in Rogers’s eyes. Tony, who was well aware that no one was perfect, found that attitude to be weirdly exasperating. 

“What do you want?” Tony went on, deciding that he might as well be upfront about the fact that Rogers was definitely here for something before Rogers said the wrong thing and Tony completely lost his temper.

“Ah… well.” Rogers suddenly seemed flustered, rubbing at the back of his neck and looking at Tony with a sheepish smile.

Or was he?

Tony narrowed his eyes slightly. 

Was Rogers genuinely flustered, or was he just acting like that to lower Tony’s defences?

Maybe Tony had been spending too much with Loki…

But maybe not.

“I need to borrow your jet,” Rogers said. 

Definitely not.

“My jet? What could you possibly need a get for?” Tony said incredulously. “Is this for Avengers business?”

“No. It’s a personal matter,” said Rogers. “But it would mean a lot to me. It’s really important.”

So important that he couldn’t tell Tony what it was for. Tony had to shake his head at the sheer audacity as he said, “No.”

“No?” Rogers repeated. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean no. N. O.”

“But that’s – this is important!” Rogers said again, like that alone would be enough to magically convince Tony, and Tony looked at him in renewed disbelief.

“Do you have a quarter of a million dollars?” Tony wanted to know.

“No,” Rogers said slowly.

“Well, that’s what you need to fly my jet somewhere. So, unless you have that, the answer is no and we’re done here,” Tony said. He turned on his heel and walked back to the elevator, ignoring the sound of Rogers’s sputtering behind him, and allowed JARVIS to whisk him away.


	4. Chapter 4

“What did he say? What did he do? Did he touch you?” Loki was all up in Tony’s face the moment that the elevator doors slid open. He openly looked Tony up and down, clearly ready to pounce on any reason to go after Rogers. Unfortunately, Tony had to shake his head.

“No. He just wanted to borrow my jet,” Tony said, rolling his eyes all over again at the audacity of it all. It was hard to tell whether Rogers was genuinely clueless about the cost of that sort of thing, or whether he knew and just didn’t give a shit.

“He wanted to borrow your jet?” Loki repeated, eyebrows furrowing. “Why?”

Tony shrugged. “Dunno. He wouldn’t tell me. God only knows with Rogers.” 

James came around the corner as he spoke. Tony shot him a quick smile and looked away – only to freeze and look back. Something about James looked… _different_. His eyes were still that pretty shade of blue that Tony loved so much, and his hair was still long enough to touch his shoulders. But it was lighter now, bordering on blond, and seemed wavier.

Tony turned towards him fully. It was his turn to look someone up and down, mentally cataloguing everything that had changed. James had always been taller than him, but shorter than Loki. Now, he was almost positive that James was closer to Loki’s height than he’d been before. Something about his face looked different too, but Tony couldn’t put his finger on what. Was it the curve of his jaw? The slope of his nose? The fullness of his lips? All of the above?

“Are you done? I’m startin’ to think you like looking at me,” James said with a smirk.

“I do like looking at you,” Tony said without a hint of shame. “I like looking at both of you. Why do you think I let you live here if not for the free eye candy?”

It was Loki’s turn to roll his eyes. “James asked me to make some subtle changes to his face and body,” he said. “That way, he won’t be as easily identifiable as the Winter Soldier.”

“Oh, that’s smart,” Tony said, impressed. James still looked like himself, just a slightly different version of himself – so while he still looked like the Winter Soldier, there were enough differences for plausible deniability. It would help even more once Tony was able to finish the new arm he was working on. With Loki’s help, it would look exactly like a regular human arm. No one would be able to tell that James even had a prosthetic once they were done.

“Thanks. And now I’m really glad it’s done if Rogers was asking for your jet,” said James.

Tony frowned. “Why would that matter?”

James looked at him in surprise. “He’s looking for the Winter Soldier.”

“Wait. You mean… does Rogers know that Bucky Barnes was the Winter Soldier?” Tony said incredulously. Loki went very still, save for the spark that flashed through his eyes. 

“I thought you knew that,” James said, glancing back and forth between them. “That’s why – didn’t you know that’s why they ended up dumping those SHIELD files on the internet?”

“No,” Tony whispered. He had always assumed that Rogers and Romanov had come across the information about Hydra’s infiltration of SHIELD by accident, or that maybe Fury had alerted them to what was happening. It had never crossed his mind that they might have stumbled across the truth while in pursuit if something completely different – or rather, make that _someone_.

Tony had spent _hours_ trying to help and extract agents after that. So many had been compromised by the release of that data, and in the end, he had only managed to save what felt like a pitifully small handful of them. Too many had died. But he had held onto the hope that there was a reason for that, even if he knew he’d never be privy to what that reason was.

He had just never expected that reason to be so selfish.

And then another, more horrifying revelation hit.

“Wait,” he said again, lifting a hand. His chest tightened.

“Tony?” Loki said, immediately stepping closer. He gently grasped Tony’s chin, tilting Tony’s face up. Tony found himself looking into Loki’s eyes. Much like James, Loki had pretty eyes. They were the same deep green hue as his magic. Normally, Tony would’ve enjoyed being so close to those eyes. Right now, he just felt kind of sick.

“Rogers knows,” Tony heard himself say. Pepper would’ve told him that he was jumping to conclusions, but Tony felt in his _soul_ that this was the truth. Why else would Rogers have refused to admit that he needed the jet to track down the Winter Soldier? Tony was a good man. A nice guy. Despite what certain people thought, under any other circumstances, he would’ve jumped at the chance to help Rogers find and free an old friend from Hydra’s grasp.

Unless that old friend had murdered Tony’s parents.

“He knows what?” Loki said, confused but also annoyed. Not at Tony, but at the sense that there was a situation here he was not in control of.

“About the Starks,” said James. He was staring at Tony with an expression of enlightened horror, having clearly come to the same conclusion. “You’re right, Tony. Shit. You’re right.”

“Would one of you please fill me in?” Loki said.

James inhaled deeply and looked at Loki. “Rogers recognized me as the Winter Solider at some point. I don’t really know when. I just know that he knows. I figured when he came here, he was looking for resources, but… if he wouldn’t tell Tony, there has to be a reason for it.”

“He knows about what happened to my parents,” Tony said, feeling a little sick as he spoke the words out loud. Rogers was probably hoping to get his hands on the Winter Soldier and quietly squirrel him away until he could be sure that his precious Bucky Barnes either didn’t remember what had happened or could be convinced to be kept quiet about the whole sordid affair.

Loki went very still except for the green sparks that flashed around his hands. “I’m going to kill him.”

Tony looked at James in a sort of dazed way, half-expecting James to speak up for his old friend, but James remained quiet. 

“Don’t,” Tony said, though it didn’t come out with any force. “I don’t have any proof, Loki. That’s just my guess.” Though since James had come to the same conclusion, it was looking more and more likely. Still, he didn’t feel right setting Loki lose on Rogers just yet. Loki had worked hard to make people think well of him, and all of that effort would be undone in an instant if people saw him attack Captain America.

“I can’t believe this,” James muttered, running a hand through his hair in aggravation. “Why wouldn’t he just tell you? You were fine with it…”

Tony let out a bitter laugh. “Because that’s what Rogers thinks of me. He doesn’t believe I would be able to forgive you.” The knowledge hurt, twisting his stomach into knots. It shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was. Just a little bit. He had hoped that his relationship with the Avengers had improved past that, but apparently not.

Perhaps what hurt the most was that they wouldn’t even give him the chance to _try_.

“It’s things like this that make me not want to be around him,” James said aggressively. “I may not remember anything about him, but I went to that exhibit a few weeks ago and I’ve read the books and watched the movies. They all say that Captain America is this amazing, good-hearted, perfect person who fights for the little guy. But that’s not what I’ve seen.” He was flushed with anger. “All I see is an asshole. I’m so sorry, Tony.”

“It’s not your fault,” Tony said, suddenly weary. Part of him wanted to go hide in the workshop, but he was very aware of the fact that the workshop was full of semi-completed projects for the Avengers. He’d been working on a new kind of arrows for Barton, upgraded Widow Bites for Romanov, and a set of bracers for Rogers that would’ve allowed him to recall the shield from hundreds of feet away. The thought of doing anything for those three right now turned his stomach.

Loki was watching him closely. Too closely. Before Tony could say anything, Loki gripped his arm and declared, “We are going to watch a movie.”

“I didn’t agree to that,” Tony pointed out, but he allowed himself to be dragged over to the couch. At one time he would’ve wanted to hide himself away to properly process this information, but now he couldn’t deny that cuddling with two hot men might just be what the doctor would order.

So he sat down – or rather, Loki pushed him down – and then, after Loki had sat down beside him, looked around for James. He hated Rogers even more when he saw that James was still standing where he had been before, watching Loki and Tony with an uncertain expression. Like he seriously thought that he might not be welcomed. Tony had to beckon to him a couple of times before James finally walked over, and then he had to grab James by the waist and pull him down on the couch.

“Hey!” James protested, but he was finally smiling as he landed half on top of Tony and half on the couch.

“Hey yourself. You have pointy elbows,” Tony said, squirming underneath him.

“Come here,” Loki said, pulling Tony into his lap. Tony opened his mouth to complain, but then James scooted up against Loki’s side and looped his arms around the both of them. Loki wrapped one arm around Tony and then draped the other around James’s shoulders, leaving Tony effectively trapped.

“I feel the need to point out that I am not your teddy bear,” Tony said, trying to sound more indignant than he really felt. Honestly, he _lived_ for moments like this when he was cuddled between Loki and James and the world was safe and warm. He couldn’t help wiggling around until he was curled up at the right angle to lay his head on Loki’s chest, putting his face inches away from James’s.

“If you’re not a teddy bear, why are you smiling so wide?” James wanted to know.

“I’m not smiling. You’re seeing things,” Tony lied.

Loki scoffed. “I can’t believe I live with someone who is such a terrible liar.”

“Rude!” Tony said, pouting, and Loki snickered.

“Both of you shush. The movie is starting,” James ordered.

Tony obligingly turned his eyes to the screen, but he wasn’t really watching the movie. He still felt a little hollow inside about his recent revelation. This seemed like proof that the Avengers would never really be the kind of team that Tony had originally envisioned they would be. Not if secrets like this were still allowed to fester. He couldn’t imagine, if the roles had been reversed, hiding that kind of information from Rogers. 

So what was he going to do about it? Tony pondered that for a few minutes. There was no way that Rogers was getting Tony’s jet to use, but the spiteful side of Tony couldn’t help thinking that laying a fake trail for Rogers to follow would be amusing. He wouldn’t do that just because it might put James in danger of being found out, but the thought that was still fun to dwell on.

Really, it came down to whether he wanted to ignore it or confront Rogers. Those were the only choices Tony really had. Part of him was tempted to sweep this under the rug like he did everything else, but another part of him rebelled against that. Why should Rogers be able to act like an asshole and not be called out for it? Why should Rogers be the only one who never had to face any consequences for his choices?

He was going to do it, he decided. The very next time he saw Rogers, Tony was going to confront him about all of Rogers’s little secrets. They’d see how great Captain America came across then.


	5. Chapter 5

As it turned out, Tony didn’t need to go looking for Rogers. Two days later, he was frowning severely at a hologram outlining the blueprints for James’s new arm when an alarm started beeping. Tony blinked for a moment, thrown. That wasn’t the Avengers alarm. He was also pretty sure it wasn’t the fire alarm – they’d all become acquainted with that one after the last time Loki got into the kitchen without supervision.

“What’s with the alarm, J?” Tony asked.

“That is your alarm to let you know that Captain Rogers is attempting to enter the tower, Sir,” JARVIS responded.

Tony was pretty sure that alarm had not been set by him, but he was hardly going to complain. He directed JARVIS to show him what Rogers was doing and was shortly watching as Rogers and Romanov tried to talk their way past the receptionist and into the building. It was a pretty amusing sight. Tony had personally hired Annette, and she was better than any security guard when it came to seeing through bullshit. Her flat, unimpressed stare when Rogers mentioned he was Captain America made Tony laugh out loud.

“Shall I get security?” JARVIS asked, sounding just a bit too eager by Tony’s estimation. Tony briefly wondered whether JARVIS meant S.I.’s actual security, or if the A.I. would ‘accidentally’ let Loki know that Rogers was around. Loki wasn’t in the tower at the moment, but he would teleport back in a heartbeat if he needed to.

“No. I’ll deal with them myself,” Tony said, standing up. “Let them up. Same as last time. Have security on standby.”

“Very well.” JARVIS didn’t sound happy, but this was something that Tony felt like he had to do. 

He made his way upstairs, stopping off briefly on his floor to change – let Rogers and Romanov wait. He took his sweet time putting on a tailored suit that he knew for a fact made him look like a million bucks. The green shirt brought out the hazel in his eyes, and the dark grey fabric of the suit always made him look like he had a tan no matter how long it had been since he’d stepped outside. 

It was a pleasure to see that both Rogers and Romanov looked annoyed when the elevators door opened, and Tony stepped out. He smiled broadly at the both of them, just to rub it in, and was amused to see that Romanov’s jaw visibly ticked in response. She definitely knew what he was up to, but that made the tactic no less effective. However, he had to admit he was a bit baffled when she suddenly smiled.

“Tony, there you are! It’s so nice to see you,” she gushed, jumping up and coming closer. “I’ve missed you. We really need to hang out more.” She put her arms up like she was going to hug him, but Tony wasn’t that stupid. He didn’t get stabbed in the neck without learning a lesson or two.

He neatly sidestepped her hug, shooting her a disarming smile. “I was in a meeting,” he said politely, deliberately not responding to any of her comments. Because the truth was, it wasn’t nice to see them, he hadn’t missed them, and they definitely did not need to hang out more.

But at least now he knew why Romanov was here. Rogers had clearly gone back to her with tales of his failure, and so now she was here to try and grease the wheels. She always did consider herself to be way more skilled with schmoozing than she really was. Tony had to wonder if she genuinely thought that he was going to fall for this bullshit, or if she’d come along with Rogers because it was easier than saying no. 

“So sorry to pull you out of your meeting,” Romanov said warmly. Her eyes, however, were like cold blue marbles. Tony gave her the once over, noticing that she was wearing a pretty blue dress that emphasized her curves and drew the eye to the considerable amount of cleavage she was showing off.

Too bad she had no way of knowing that there were two way more delicious specimen upstairs for Tony to drool over.

“What can I do for you?” Tony asked, looking between them. 

“I wanted to ask you about your jet again,” said Rogers. “Natasha pointed out to me that I should have been honest about why I wanted to use it.” He sounded painfully earnest, to the point where Tony just might have fallen for the routine had he not been aware of Romanov’s there-and-gone again proud smile. She had clearly coached Rogers on what to say.

“Okay. Why do you want to use it?” Tony said, figuring that he might as well hear whatever they had rehearsed.

“It’s for Avengers business,” Rogers said triumphantly.

Tony waited.

Neither Rogers nor Romanov said anything else; they just looked at him with twin expectant expressions.

That was it, Tony realized incredulously. _That_ was their grand plan. Apparently, they thought that Tony was so desperate to be a part of the Avengers that he would be willing to accept that as an answer. The sad part was, at one time they would have been right. But that was before Tony had met James and Loki, and before he really knew what it was like to be around people who valued him.

“Avengers business,” he repeated. “What kind of Avengers business?”

“There’s no need for you to worry about it now. We know you have a lot going on. That’s why Steve and I are going to check things out first,” Romanov said, laying a hand on Rogers’s shoulder. Probably trying to present a united front or something like that.

“And to do that, you need my jet,” Tony said flatly. “You can’t fly commercial?”

Romanov frowned. “Taking a personal jet is a lot faster.”

“But you were here a couple days ago, and I said no. So if you’d left by commercial then, you would have been where you needed to go already. Right?” Tony said, looking back and forth between them with an innocent expression. 

Rogers was beginning to look a bit frustrated. “This mission requires stealth, Tony. We can’t be tracked,” he said sternly. “We know you have ways of getting around security and customs.”

Ah, so that was the other part of it. Tony nodded to show that he understood – he understood _all too well_. If he’d ever needed a final nail in the coffin, this was it. Not only did Rogers and Romanov want use of his toys, they also wanted to use his money and connections. Next, they’d be telling him that they needed to use him for his fame. That was usually how it went.

“You’re right, Cap. I do have ways of getting around security and customs,” Tony said, nodding. He couldn’t tell if Rogers and Romanov wanted to use those connections as a way to sneak up on the Winter Soldier, as a means of smuggling the Winter Soldier back into the United States. Possibly both. And of course, if something went wrong with the situation, nether of them would be held responsible. That would all be on Tony.

“So you’ll let us take the jet?” Rogers said, perking up considerably.

“I just have one question,” Tony said. It was kind of fun to watch them both deflate and exchange looks that strongly suggested they thought _Tony_ was being the unreasonable one here. No doubt Romanov was inwardly grinding her teeth at the realization that Tony hadn’t bought into her sweet routine.

“What would that be?” Romanov asked. “If it’s about you becoming a full Avenger –”

“No, no. Fury and I have made our peace with that,” Tony said with a wave of his hand. Whether it was him or Loki’s presence in his life or some combination of the two, Tony had never made it past consultant status when it came to the Avengers. At one point, that had really bothered him and he’d done his best not to let Fury or SHIELD hold his status over his head.

Now, Tony knew that was probably a good thing. He was able to look Romanov right in the eyes and watch her smile fade as she realized that Tony really didn’t care. Her bargaining chip, if that was what she was hoping to use that bit of information for, was gone. For that matters, so was SHIELD. It was probably up to Rogers now whether or not Tony was a full Avenger, and that was pretty unlikely.

“Oh, great,” Romanov said slowly, exchanging a quick look with Rogers. “What then?”

Tony smiled as sweetly as he could and said, “Just when were you planning to tell me that the _real_ reason you want to use my jet is to find the Winter Soldier, who killed my parents?”

Dead silence.

He’d decided to omit the fact that he knew they knew the Winter Soldier was Bucky Barnes. He might as well keep that knowledge in his pocket in case he ever needed it in the future. In the meantime, it was still enjoyable to watch the color drain from Rogers’s face. Even Romanov paled slightly, though she had a lot more practice at keeping her composure. Tony just looked at them, never once losing his smile, patiently waiting to see what they were going to say.

“Wh-what?” Rogers stammered finally. 

Romanov recovered quicker, which was to be expected of a spy, and tightened her grip on Rogers’s shoulder as she said, “Tony, what are you talking about?”

“I know,” Tony said, letting his smile fade. “I saw the SHIELD files. I guess I have you to thank for helping me figure it out.” He nodded at Romanov. “Considering that you dumped all those files on the internet without a second thought for the people you might hurt in the process.”

“There were things going on that you can’t begin to understand,” Romanov said tightly.

“I understand plenty more than you think,” Tony said, a little more sharply than he’d intended. “ _Were_ you ever planning to tell me that you were looking for the man who killed my parents? Or were you planning to keep it a secret?”

“You wouldn’t have understood. We were doing it to protect you,” Rogers tried.

Tony laughed bitterly. “Protect me? Please. You were just protecting yourselves,” he shot back. “Because you thought I would say no and didn’t even have the courtesy to give me the chance to come to terms with this myself. Well, fuck you both. I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

“Tony, you can’t do this,” Rogers said, taking a step towards him. A little chill ran up Tony’s spine, though he refused to back down. He could call the armor to him, but it would still take a minute or two to make it here. Rogers could do a lot of damage in that span of time…

“It’s my jet and I can do whatever I want with it, including restricting access,” Tony replied. 

“If this is how you act, you will never be a part of the Avengers,” Romanov said, her eyes glittering.

“I don’t want to be a part of your stupid club, so that’s fine with me,” Tony said.

“Tony,” Rogers said. He was beginning to look angry. “We need that jet. For once in your life, try to understand that this is about something more important than you.”

“Stop telling me what I do and don’t understand!” Tony snapped, incensed. He was a goddamn genius, and these people were acting like he was five years old.

Rogers moved. Maybe he was reaching for Tony, maybe he wasn’t. All Tony knew was that Rogers was suddenly _much_ closer than he was comfortable with, and his heart started pounding in his ears. There was a completely blank second where Tony didn’t know _what_ to do, and –

“Hey!” a sharp, familiar voice shouted.

Tony froze. So did Rogers and Romanov.

“Don’t touch him,” James hissed, striding quickly towards them. “Or I swear, you’ll lose that hand.”


	6. Chapter 6

What was he doing here? That was the only thought running through Tony’s mind over and over again. He felt frozen, incapable of reacting, as James reached them and rudely pushed himself between Rogers and Tony. That effectively forced a dumbstruck Rogers to back up a few steps, nearly shoving Rogers into Romanov before Rogers managed to catch himself.

“Bucky?” Rogers whispered, staring at James with a stricken expression. Even in his daze, Tony had to wonder what was going through Rogers’s head. All that time searching and now here James was, right in New York City.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” James said coolly. “JARVIS alerted me to intruders in the tower, so I came to see what was going on.”

“Bucky, it’s me! Steve!” Rogers stepped forward, reaching out to put a hand on James’s shoulder. James neatly side-stepped the hand, taking Tony along with him, until they were both out of Rogers’s reach. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never met you before in my life, and my name is not Bucky,” James said, sliding an arm around Tony’s waist. “My name is Jason.”

Rogers blinked, looking totally thrown. “No, it’s – you’re Bucky! I recognize you! You pulled me out of the river!”

James looked him up and down. “You clearly have me mistaken for someone else. I’m not from around here and I’ve never been swimming in any rivers.”

“Steve,” Romanov said, putting a hand on Rogers’s arm. She was looking at James very closely, but there was a small frown on her face.

And, in a flash, Tony realized what the problem was. Loki. Just a couple of days ago, after Rogers’s first visit to the tower, Loki had made some subtle but permanent changes to the way that James looked just in case this very event came to pass. It wasn’t enough that Rogers wouldn’t recognize his old friend, but it _was_ enough to cast doubt on whether or not this was really James Buchanan Barnes.

“Where are you from, then?” Romanov said, narrowing her eyes.

“I don’t see why I owe a couple of strangers my life’s story, but if you must know I’m from California,” James said, and if Tony listened closely, he thought he could actually hear a hint of an East coast accent in James’s voice. He had to stop himself from looking at James in astonishment. That wouldn’t help. He needed to get with the program.

“Look, you two need to leave,” Tony said firmly. “First you come in demanding that I loan you my personal property, then both of you _lie_ to my face about why you need said property, and now you’re trying to accuse my friend of being someone who has been dead for more than seventy-five years? Clearly, you’ve lost it. You should look into getting him some serious help,” he added to Romanov.

“Bucky isn’t dead! He’s the Winter Soldier!” Rogers shouted. “Bucky! Why are you doing this?” He clenched his hands into fists, looking so wild about the fact that part of Tony was a little afraid of him even as he felt kind of sorry for him.

“You think he’s the what?!” Tony said, pretending to be aghast. “Romanov, seriously. I think Captain America has snapped.” He was now incredibly glad that he hadn’t shared the fact that he knew exactly who the Winter Soldier was before now, because this was a moment he would not have wanted to miss.

Romanov pursed her lips. She clearly didn’t want to back up Rogers’s claim and admit that he was right, but at the same time she didn’t like looking like she was on Tony’s side. It was putting her in an awkward position that Tony was thoroughly enjoying. 

“Because if Bucky Barnes was the Winter Soldier, that would mean Cap is throwing over the Avengers in favor if his old friend who murdered my parents and hundreds of other people,” Tony went on, his voice perfectly pleasant. “And that would mean any _current_ friends of Cap should be careful.” He put his hand to James’s back as he spoke, hoping that James would know he didn’t mean it, and stared Romanov squarely in the eyes. 

And for the first time since Tony had known her, Natasha Romanov looked just a tiny bit uncertain.

“Bucky is innocent! He didn’t know what he was doing. Bucky come on. I don’t know what Tony has done to you, but you need to come with us,” Rogers said. He tried again to grab for James, who neatly dodged.

“Tony hasn’t done anything except for provide me a place to stay when I’m in New York. I’ve never met you before in your life, and I’m not the person you seem to think that I am. I think it’s time that you left,” James said firmly.

“I’m not leaving without you!” Rogers exclaimed. “I’ve been searching for you everywhere. Bucky, I know it’s you!”

“Stop calling me Bucky. That’s not my name,” James said, now progressing into totally exasperated, and Tony thought he knew why. In that respect, James wasn’t lying. Bucky Barnes had died the day he fell from the train some seventy-odd years ago. The man that was left did not in any way consider himself to be Bucky Barnes, and he never would.

“Steve, we should go,” Romanov said quietly, and in that moment, Tony knew that they’d successfully put some cracks into her armor. If she was trying to get Rogers to leave, then she was no longer sure of what Rogers was saying. Seeing her on uneven footing was one of the most satisfying moments of Tony’s life.

“But Natasha –” Rogers looked between her and James, clearly torn.

“Come on,” she said, putting both her hands on his arm and physically pulling him along. “We need to do some research.”

Which meant that they were going to look into James, Tony deduced. Luckily, JARVIS had already been hard at work creating a fake background for James. Though, up until now, Tony hadn’t heard about the new name that James had chosen for himself. Regardless, he was confident in the work that JARVIS had been doing. SHIELD wasn’t going to find anything to snoop around in – and even if they did, they’d never find any proof that James had once been Bucky Barnes _or_ the Winter Soldier.

When they were gone, James turned to Tony and extended a hand. “Jason Smith. Pleased to meet you.”

“Smith? Really?” Tony said, unable to help laughing as he took James’s hand.

James grinned. “I asked JARVIS for the most common last name in the U.S. just to make it that much harder on SHIELD.” He gently shook Tony’s hand. “For the record, you and I met when you lived in Malibu.”

“Nice cover,” Tony said with an approving nod. “Are you sure you should’ve done that, though? Rogers is like a dog with a bone. He’ll never let up on you now.”

“He was going to meet me sooner or later,” James pointed out. “I couldn’t hide from him forever… and frankly, I didn’t really want to. Besides, I like the idea of him driving himself crazy over never knowing who I really am.” His smile was pure mischief.

“You’re evil,” Tony said, a little impressed.

“I learned from the best. It was all Loki’s idea,” James said.

“Why am I not surprised?” Tony said, amused.

“I do have the best ideas,” Loki said, and Tony jumped. He turned his head in time to see Loki appear in a shimmer of green magic.

“Have you been there the whole time?” Tony asked him.

“JARVIS alerted both of us when Rogers and Romanov got here,” said James, and Loki nodded.

“I decided to remain hidden, but I was monitoring the situation just to make sure I didn’t need to intervene,” Loki said.

Tony looked over at him. “I’m honestly shocked that you didn’t.”

“You and James seemed to have the situation under control. I didn’t want to escalate things,” Loki replied. “On the other hand, if _Captain America_ were the one who escalated, then I could hardly be blamed for stepping in and taking care of things.” His expression was one of pure innocence that, in any other situation, probably would have made Tony laugh.

But right now, Tony was feeling a little overwhelmed. He slowly looked from James to Loki, realizing that the two of them had discussed this without his knowledge. They’d had a plan for what they should do if Rogers showed up again. Maybe that should have upset him – but it didn’t. It just made him feel like they cared. Not only were they siding with him, but they also cared enough to want to protect Tony no matter the consequences. James could’ve outed himself as Bucky Barnes; Loki could’ve undone all the progress he’d made since the battle. But they had still done it.

When was the last time someone other than Rhodey or Pepper had cared that much?

“Tony?” James said, his smile fading. “What’s wrong?”

“I love you,” Tony blurted out. Then he slapped a hand over his mouth. Shit. He had _not_ meant to say that.

“What?” Loki said. It wasn’t very often that he looked surprised, but right then a stiff wind probably could’ve blown him over.

“Oh,” James said at the same time, very softly.

“I didn’t mean to say that,” Tony whispered, mortified. He stared at the floor. Should he try to take it back? But what good would that do? The words were out there and no matter what he said now, there would always be that tiny sliver of doubt that maybe he’d meant it. 

Because, of course, he had.

He clenched his hands into fists, not daring to look at either one of them. “I, uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to spring that on either one of you so suddenly. It’s just… you’re both amazing and it just really hit me right now how damned lucky I am to have here you with me. The last six months have been incredible. More than incredible. I don’t even know the right word for it, but I –” Embarrassingly enough, his throat got tight. “Both of you, I –”

“Tony.” Suddenly Loki was there, gently tipping Tony’s chin up and leaning down to kiss him. It was the sort of kiss that made Tony’s toes curl, and which made him want to gasp and give in to whatever Loki wanted to do to him. He was a little dazed when Loki pulled back from the kiss, which made Loki smile in a satisfied way.

Then Loki turned, stalking towards James. Tony was fully expecting James to put his hands up, or turn away, but instead James met Loki halfway in an intense, heated kiss that left Tony staring at them in shock. The sight of the two of them kissing was one of the, if not the, hottest things Tony had ever seen, and he was suddenly grateful that this was taking place on an open floor so that JARVIS would be recording.

Because Tony was going to be re-watching this in the future. A lot.

“Ah!” James broke the kiss with a soft, needy sound that went straight to Tony’s lower half. He couldn’t see what Loki had done, but he desperately wanted to know.

“Yes,” Loki said, looking at James with this intent expression. James looked back at them and it was like, for a few seconds, they were holding a conversation with their eyes alone.

Then James turned back to Tony and said, “Really? Me too?” in this doubtful voice.

“I… well, yeah,” Tony said, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“I thought maybe I was intruding,” James said.

“Not at all,” Loki interjected, putting a hand on James’s shoulder, and Tony nodded.

“Wow. That’s… wow.” James smiled then, his eyes brighter than Tony had ever seen them, and held a hand out to Tony. 

And of course, Tony Stark was a weak man where it counted. He drifted closer to James, putting his hand in James’s and allowing James to pull him close and into another, equally heated kiss that was totally different from how Loki had felt. The dichotomy was enough to leave Tony a little dizzy, especially when he felt Loki pressing in along his back. Loki’s hands on his hips made him swallow hard.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Loki said throatily.

There was a lot that Tony _should_ be doing. He should be following up on the work JARVIS had done in laying out the fake background for James. He should be monitoring Rogers and Romanov. He should be completing his work on James’s new arm. He should be laying a false trail for the Winter Soldier to further prove that James _wasn’t_ the Soldier, and to give Rogers something fake to chase.

Instead, he leaned backwards into Loki’s arms and tightened his grip on James’s hand, whispering, “Let’s.”


End file.
